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Purpose in Life As a System That Creates and Sustains Health and Well-Being: an Integrative, Testable Theory

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Purpose in Life As a System That Creates and Sustains Health and Well-Being: an Integrative, Testable Theory Review of General Psychology © 2009 American Psychological Association 2009, Vol. 13, No. 3, 242–251 1089-2680/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0017152 Purpose in Life as a System That Creates and Sustains Health and Well-Being: An Integrative, Testable Theory Patrick E. McKnight and Todd B. Kashdan George Mason University Purpose—a cognitive process that defines life goals and provides personal meaning—may help explain disparate empirical social science findings. Devoting effort and making progress toward life goals provides a significant, renewable source of engagement and meaning. Purpose offers a testable, causal system that synthesizes outcomes including life expectancy, satisfaction, and mental and physical health. These outcomes may be explained best by considering the motivation of the individual—a motivation that comes from having a purpose. We provide a detailed definition with specific hypotheses derived from a synthesis of relevant findings from social, behavioral, biological, and cognitive literatures. To illustrate the uniqueness of the purpose model, we compared purpose with competing contemporary models that offer similar predictions. Addressing the structural features unique to purpose opens opportunities to build upon existing causal models of “how and why” health and well-being develop and change over time. What do volunteer services, social support, pet care, and reli- purpose offers direction just as a compass offers direction to a gious attendance have in common? Recent studies indicate that navigator; following that compass (i.e., purpose) is optional. Liv- people participating in these activities live longer than those who ing in accord with one’s purpose, however, offers that person a do not. Volunteers had a 60% lower mortality rate compared with self-sustaining source of meaning through goal pursuit and goal nonvolunteers (Oman, Thoresen, & McMahon, 1999). Providers of attainment. Furthermore, purpose is woven into a person’s identity social support had a 50% lower mortality rate than those who and behavior as a central, predominant theme—central to person- neither received nor provided social support (S. Brown, Nesse, ality as well. Vinokur, & Smith, 2003). Hypertensive people who owned pets Purpose, therefore, helps organize several areas of research had lower blood pressure and lived longer, as compared with (e.g., meaning and goals) across many disciplines (e.g., social, non–pet owners (Allen, Shykoff, & Izzo, 2001). Finally, frequent behavioral, biological, and cognitive science). Our intent here is to religious service attendees had longer lifespans compared with provide a fuller explanation of a relatively neglected, relevant nonattendees or infrequent attendees (Strawbridge, Cohen, Shema, mechanism for longevity, general health, and well-being. Unlike & Kaplan, 1997). What these findings have in common appears to other mechanisms that are important contributors to healthy living be longevity; however, purpose may link these behaviors. We such as supportive social relationships (House, Landis, & Umber- hypothesize that purpose leads to longer life span, fewer health son, 1988), positive affect (Cohen & Pressman, 2006), optimism care problems, and greater life satisfaction. Purpose, from our and hope (Segerstrom, 2005), and self-determined pursuits (Deci perspective, is not something merely to attain, but rather is an & Ryan, 2000), purpose is contingent on the existence of a clearly important predictive variable of physical health and mental health. defined mechanism that people devote effortful advances toward Furthermore, our conceptualization of purpose does not rule out (i.e., appetitive). The presence of a purpose is expected to lead to other routes to healthy living. However, when present, purpose is greater persistence than other important life goals because a cen- central to a person’s life narrative. Neglecting its presence can lead tral, self-organizing life aim resonates across time and context. to erroneous conclusions about “how” and “why” people behave as they do. Differentiating Purpose From Religiosity and Meaning The concept of purpose exists in both the lay and social science What Is Purpose? literatures as either religiosity (Warren, 2002), spirituality (R. Purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim that organizes and Emmons, 1999) or meaning (King, Hicks, Krull, & Del Gaiso, stimulates goals, manages behaviors, and provides a sense of 2006; Klinger, 1977; Wong & Fry, 1998; Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & meaning. Purpose directs life goals and daily decisions by guiding Kaler, 2006). the use of finite personal resources. Instead of governing behavior, Common among these perspectives is personal agency (Frankl, 1963; deCharms, 1968)—a view of behavioral action (Carver & White, 1994) and attribution (Vallerand, Deci, & Ryan, 1987)— that we hold as central to purpose as well. These perspectives Patrick E. McKnight and Todd B. Kashdan, Department of Psychology, George Mason University. differ in many ways from purpose. First, purpose is not essential to Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to well-being as suggested by Frankl (1963) and Warren (2002). Patrick E. McKnight, Department of Psychology, George Mason Uni- Frankl’s perspective is that personal agency is an essential deter- versity, MSN 3F5, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444. minant of mental and physical health that can be changed (e.g., via E-mail: [email protected] therapeutic means or “logotherapy”); religious faiths typically hold 242 PURPOSE IN LIFE 243 that same perspective. A person may be healthy for genetic reasons Both higher-order and lower-order goals come from a purpose. that have nothing to do with personal agency or purpose. Second, We expect that people who have a purpose in life would move religious faith (Warren, 2002) is not necessary for purpose. Pur- seamlessly from goal to goal or manage multiple goals simulta- pose, in the religious or spiritual sense, serves as an outcome of neously. Conversely, a person without purpose may achieve a goal faith. Those who have faith reap gains by acting in accord with but after that achievement find it difficult to readily identify religious/spiritual teachings to reach some desirable end (e.g., another goal. Goals, therefore, are central to and are produced by eternal salvation). Purpose may come from other nonfaith bases— purpose. such as goodwill toward others—and exert a powerful influence on “Goals provide a sense of meaning and purpose in life” (R. a person’s life. Third, purpose gives a person a sense of meaning Emmons, 1999, pp. 3). We hold that purpose works in the opposite that may not always be recognizable nor easily articulated. Self- causal direction by causing well-formed, organized goal structures report measures probably miss what we mean by purpose because and meaning. Simply having a goal will not necessarily indicate a many people may label or associate their behaviors as purposeful. purpose. People may have an extensive hierarchy of goals; that Fourth, purpose may not necessarily be available to every per- hierarchy does not mean that the person has a purpose either. At a son. There are individual differences (e.g., cognitive ability) that single point in time, goals that are higher in the hierarchy offer an likely limit purpose formation. A person who is unable to grasp adequate, temporally dependent indicator of a person’s identity. abstract concepts might find it difficult to generate a purpose since Understanding the totality of a person or what motivates them to purpose requires insight, introspection, and planning (Carver & do what they do across time and context (i.e., a person’s life Scheier, 2002). General cognitive ability may be altered not just by narrative; McAdams, 2001) requires an even higher level con- inherited general intelligence, but also by injury (e.g., traumatic struct. Given these features, one person’s purpose cannot be an- brain injury), disease (e.g., dementia), or neglect (e.g., Korsakoff’s other person’s goal. Purpose is at the highest level of analysis and syndrome brought on by alcoholism). Finally, purpose is not a provides some degree of centrality in a person’s identity; the same mere product of faith, meaning, or personal agency. Meaning does cannot be said for goals. not always drive purpose; rather, meaning probably drives the Our perspective on purpose is consistent with behavioral con- development of purpose. Once a purpose becomes developed, gruence models of personality that suggest people derive the purpose drives meaning. In short, purpose and meaning have a greatest positive experiences when they participate in activities temporal, bidirectional relationship. When these faith-based or congruent with their habits and predispositions (i.e., dominant meaning-focused approaches move beyond processing and inter- personality traits) and the least pleasure when there is discord preting reality to explicitly acknowledge motivated planning and (Coˆte´ & Moskowitz, 1998; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005; Sheldon & acting, they begin to offer what we refer to as purpose. Purpose Kasser, 1998). In addition, goal self-concordance refers to the shares several common threads with these other approaches in- degree to which goal pursuits are congruent with intrinsic values cluding personal agency, prioritizing goal-relevant behaviors, and and dominant behavior tendencies. Numerous studies have dem- goal setting. onstrated that people make better progress toward their goals (e.g., Sheldon & Elliot, 1999),
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